LAfrequentflyer

C-152 is a good plane , i have a good 10 hours in one...:-) Its just too small for two average size people...

-LA

stis202

Is insurance required for private ownership?

daytonaflyer

I'm just going to assume that buying your own plane is not an option for you. I went to Ari-Ben Aviator a little over a year ago to build muti time. Here is my experience with them:
We called and signed up for their time building program in July 2004. My friend and I drove down there in August in good spirits looking forward to some quality flying. When we arrived they had no record of us calling and did not have us on the schedule at all.
Ari is the son of the owner and he lied to us about everything on the phone. He told us we'd be on the schedule right away just to get our money. We waited in for an entire week before we even got our first flight. Luckily we had a friend to stay with or that would have cost us about $500 extra in hotel costs.
When we finally did get flying, we did a 5 hour checkout with an instructor which they state right on their website costs $300. They charged us almost $800 each for it. Then they gave us some aircraft manuals and never told us they were charging us for them. They tried to sneak them onto our account for an additional $42 each. We forced them to refund one set of manuals since we could share them.
Once we started flying, we really did get it done fast (about 6-8 hours per night). We were only allowed to fly at night and they will only let you refuel at their base unless you want to pay for fuel yourself. That meant we could not go more than 2.5 hours away otherwise we'd have to pay for fuel ourselves.
Also their airplanes are so poorly maintained that any FAA inspector would have found them un-airworthy. They all had INOP oil temp and oil press gauges. Some had INOP carb heat. Only one of them had a working Wx radar installed like it says on their website and that one was reserved for checkrides. Their airplanes were so illegal to fly that I was scared I might get ramp checked every time. Looking back, I should not have flown them but I guess I was naive and believed the lies they told us.
Once they get you flying, you will get it done quickly. If you don't mind flying poorly maintained aircraft that are probably not airworthy, then you can get a good price on multi-engine time. Whatever you do, don't go to a "pay for training" airline unless you want to be blacklisted in the industry.

Fly-by Knight

When you get 21 gallons per hour with the Aztec, what is the speed and what is your range? I am looking for a range of 1,400 or 1,500. Fast would be nice too, but range and useful load is more important. The 2000 # useful load of an Aztec looked good as it still had room for passengers with full fuel. i have a C206 that carries everything but would like to go farther.

rickair7777

They are very roomy and solid airplanes, often called the "AzTruck". Nothing else in their class has the roominiess. I don't have my Aztec manuals handy, but IIRC it can do 160Kts at a moderate power setting, and should go 700+ NM. Note: I think at least some of them have AS indicators calibrated in mph?

I don't think it could get to 1500 nm at any kind of speed, if at all.

There are a lot of variants, so you would have to look at the details of the one in question to be sure.

The Turbo Aztec is a screamer

ERJ135

I also heard that with the Aztec there is a saying that "if it will fit through the door it will carry it" Good airplane

TheProfessionalPilot

That is pretty much true. I have hauled an Archer II engine in it with full fuel - and the WB checked out just fine. You can carry 6 NORMAL sized pax (bein 170+each), baggage, and full fuel, no problem, maybe shift some pax around to make it stay inside the for/aft but other than that, no problem. My particular aircraft has the MetCo speedmod with 24gal per side extentions. Basically if I run it at 25GPH@8500' I should see around 170-177KTAS depending on how aft I load the AC - those numbers are at max gross too, 5200LBS! Also, at 170KTAS and 25gph, 185gal usable now you can do the math for either vfr, ifr reserves. About 1200NM which is very nice! I can ALLLLLMOST make it to maine without a fuel stop from KFPR. And if I get a fuel stop I could go well into canada without any problem. I have gone KFPR to outside of Dallas non-stop. Tall order for a long hauler. My opinion is the Az-Truck is the no-brainer for GA/135/etc - FOR WHAT IT IS.
My .04c
Jason

sscottky72

Currently own a Cessna 150 IFR equipped. I am looking down the road to purchase a twin engine plane to build time in...what is the most affordable and reliable twin engine avaliable?

Slice

Piper Apache or Twin Commanche are good choices.

TheProfessionalPilot

DIDO! I completely agree! I just bought a Seneca I and it's going to end up costing me more than an older Aztec or "newer" (relatively) Apache would have. I just got JPI digital engine monitoring and it showed only 14GPH on the Seneca while at 45% power and about 140 knots true... not bad I suppose. At 18 GPH, though, I was doing 165 knots. The only scary part about the Seneca is that it has a hard time flying on one engine, where as the Aztec (E at least) had absolutely NO problem even at max gross weight. The Seneca is basically a controlled descent - to the scene of the crash. That's the funny part about it - people always boast "oh if you lose the other engine, it'll take you home and you call your mechanic". The reality with MOST twins (Aztec exempt, mostly at least) is when you lose an engine you look for a place to put it down, hopefully an airport. Be careful what you pick. Be sure to get ahold of some performance charts and make sure that when it's fully loaded it has at least 5000ft of service ceiling... Low pressure, max gross, hot day, high humidity (Florida, very often too!) and you are talking 3500ft density altitude! I have heard it on AWOS 100's of times a DA of over 3000ft. So beware and always have an escape plan!

Good luck with your airplane!